The invention relates to a motor vehicle door lock, having at least one housing and at least one lever mounted rotatably about an axis in the housing, wherein the lever can be coupled to an actuating element disposed outside the housing and for this purpose passes through an opening in the housing.
The motor vehicle lock described above is generally not just equipped with the aforementioned lever, but furthermore comprises at least one locking mechanism equipped with a locking pawl and a rotary latch. The rotary latch interacts, for example, with a striker attached to the B-pillar in such a manner that the aforementioned motor vehicle door lock connected to a motor vehicle door and said striker in entirety form a motor vehicle door closure. Mostly, multiple levers are provided inside the housing by means of which various functional states of the motor vehicle door lock can be implemented, such as “open,” “closed,” “unlocked,” or “locked.”
These aforementioned functional states are typically defined mechanically by actuating elements such as inside door handle, outside door handle, inside lock button, lock cylinder for outside locking, etc. The usual procedure is that an associated outside operating lever, an outside locking lever, etc. inside the housing are led outwards through respective associated openings in the housing or pass through said housing openings as described. This is necessary because the respective levers are typically mechanically connected to the associated actuating elements that are mounted away from the motor vehicle door lock, for example, in a motor vehicle door, via connecting elements such as Bowden cables, rods or the like. This is how this is done in prior art representing the generic type of such lock according to DE 35 26 501 A1. This applies similarly to DE 100 65 358 C2.
For example, the outside operating lever in the housing is mechanically coupled to an outside door handle mounted away from the housing on the outside of a motor vehicle door. The outside locking lever may be mechanically connected to a lock cylinder provided in the vicinity of the outside door handle. An additionally provided inside door handle in general acts on the inside operating lever, and an inside lock button is mechanically connected to said inside locking lever in the case outlined here.
The inevitably provided housing openings pose the risk that the longevity of the motor vehicle lock and its unchanged operation are adversely affected. Dust, dirt, moisture, etc. can penetrate into the interior of the motor vehicle lock through the respective at least one housing opening. In an extreme case, this will result in corrosion, which will not only impair operability but may paralyze it completely.
According to DE 199 20 278 A1, attempts have been made in prior art to use a hermetic seal of the housing in a motor vehicle door lock. However, this results in a relatively complex and costly design. In addition, this comes at the price of reduced flexibility because mandatory connecting elements between operating elements provided on the outside and locking elements implemented on the inside have to be taken into account.